Bebel Without a Clause

Monday, January 13, 2014

BY TAI ZEE KIN: A Good take on the issue of Chinese Malaysians or Malaysian Chinese, the term depends on who you feel first.

Ethnic Han (chinese)-Malaysians, please wake up from the LEGACY of our ancestors' grievances and despairs!

马来西亚汉裔同胞，从我们祖先哀怨和悔恨的沉睡中醒起来吧-

-This is the edited version, with academic citations and references

(Preface - This article was originally written in Mandarin.
Unfortunately I have not gathered enough courage to post the mandarin
version, having anticipated personal attacks from Chinese Chauvinists in
Malaysia. I took a lot of advicies from wise people, as well as reading
various academic publications before putting my thoughts together in
this post. In the spirit of Malaysia, I shall share my thoughts with
you. I dedicate this post to every Malaysian, especially our brothers
and sisters from different races and ethnicity.)

“I was
listening to “ 黄河怨 (Grievance of the Yellow River)”, a Chinese
orchestral masterpiece. The wordings of this song reflected the
grievances and mournings of the widows and children of Chinese soldiers
who were fighting against the Japanese intruders. They were painful,
saddening, and full of regrets.”

1) The Great Divide - of Northern and Southern Chinese Immigrants

Being a chinese malaysian/ Han Malaysian, whenever you come across
another fellow Han it is very tempting to supplement another question on
top of the basic “hellos”. You would ask a question that Malaysians
from other ethnicity wouldn't common asked : "What is your dialect
clan"?

Are you a Hokkien? Are you a Cantonese? are you a Hakka?
Are you a Fuchiew? Are you a TiewChew? Are you a Hainanese? Or are you a
Kwongxi? Nontheless, many wouldn't go all the way to ask if you are a
Kwongxi.

If you’re Hakka, a clan that is nomadic in nature, a fellow Hakka would then ask, if you are a “Tai Pu Hak”, “Wo Poh Hak”, etc.

Have you wondered that NO ONE ever asked, if you're a : Shanghaies, Sichuan-ese, BeiJing-nese, Nanjing-nese, HeBei-nese, ?

During the last two “Qing” Dynasty 清朝 under the reign of the last two
Manchurian Emperors Aixin Jueluo Zaitian 愛新覺羅.載湉 Aisin Gioro Pu-Yi
爱新觉罗.溥仪, China was troubled by the growing influences and bullying
asserted towards it’s political landscaping by the 8 nation-alliances on
China (八国联军）, as well as persistent civil war lead by Kuo Ming Tang’s
founder Dr Sun-Yat Sen. As such, many Han Chinese, who forms the
majority of the Chinese population could no longer bear with the
consequence of utter political instability. Most were living in absolute
poverty while suffering impoverishment, and the middle classes realizes
that business is not going well. Deep inside the Han-Chinese guts, they
couldn't swear absolute loyalty to their emperor, who were of a
different ethnicity of the North - ethnic Manchuria, who practices
distinct culture from the ethnic Han from almost every aspect.

Northern middle class chinese were commonly known as the 官人 (the
rich/upper class). If you bother to trace the root of English word
"MANDARIN", you will then realize that it came from the ancient Sanskrit
connotation of "MENTRI/MENTERI", which means "of the upper class".
Mandarin, was known as the "dialect of the northern upper class". People
who speaks Mandarin dialect, were the beijing officials from north. - I
will elaborate further on this late or alternatively, do read it from
here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese

Southern Chinese, like the Hokkiens, Fuchiew, Hainanese, albeit
adhering to the same writing system of the language, spoke it
differently. These were the farmers, petty merchants, or commonly
perceived as the "lower class" among the ethnic Hans. They long
succumbed to the fate that northerner who speaks the upper class dialect
(官语）-which later was known as the "mandarin" dialects were superior and
richer.

As mentioned above, the political instability and
sufferings from poverty and impoverishment drove Chinese (during that
time) away from mainlain China.

However, don't get it wrong here, thinking that every Chinese left China for the same reason.

The Northern Han-Chinese left China with the intention of migrating
away for good. Some were of the lower and middle class Chinese
aristocrats, merchants, traders, but most were the rich with abundance
of wealth. They feared that their assets would not survive the
persistent internal conflicts, oppression by the Manchurian Government,
Japanese Intrusion (Sino-Japanese war), and decided to bring everything
along with them to "better places", such as the USA and Europe. Of
course you have those who left to become gold miner in the USA but many
were of the middle class.

The southern Chinese however, were
"less" affected by the Central- political instability, not being located
in the crux of the game of thrones as much as the northerner. They were
more affected by the Southern China’s Tai Ping rebellion Civil War
(1850-1864), (Stephen R. Platt. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China,
the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War.). On the other
hand, they were also those who seek to "Change" the fate of their
family. With that in mind, they went down south, as brought and offered
by the British, to the Nusantara. (British was one of the 8 country
alliances that dictated a lot on China's politics).

They were
brought in as Miner, labourer, and petty merchants to Nusantara
countries, in order to work for the colonial masters' economical favour.

They were clinging on the hope that one day, upon gathering enough
wealth, they could bring back their wealth here to China, and change the
lifestyle of their Family in China. - Based on Journal of South-East
Asian History, Volume. 2, No. 1 (March 1961), page 48 and 50 by Joyce
Ee, the average length of stay for Chinese Migrants in Tanah Melayu
between 1896 and 1930s, is only 7 SEVEN years, in which upon gathering
enough wealth, they would then make their way back to China. On the same
Journal, it was also mentioned that most of these Chinese labours were
male, with significantly lesser female Chinese labours.

They
suffered through the difficult passages to commute down south through
massive ships, squeezing into the cramped little room for 1 month with
technically minimal hygene provisions, just to get their way to Malaya.
This “travel of nightmare” is duped as “卖猪仔” Mai-Ju-Zai (Cantonese),
which is literally translated as “piglet sales”, metaphorically
described the condition on how they were squeezed into ship/vessels like
little piglets.

They, were our ancestors.

__________________________________________________________

2.) Do you know that most of your ancestors do not speak the language you are speaking now?

MY great grandmother Chan Seong Lan, who died 3 years ago at the age of
105, was one of the migrants. I had the privileged of hearing 1st hand
experience from her regarding her journey. Granny Chan came from
TeowChiew.

When i was young, I had terrible communication
problem with granny Chan. I spoke mandarin eloquently. but She doesn't.
She speaks perfect Hakka and Teow Chiew, but never mandarin. To be
honest, I've never heard she uttered a single mandarin phase. (what made
me proud was that her MALAY was really good. She always "sembang" with
the lady who sell laksa in front of her house, so i was told).

Our ancestors came down to Malaya with their dialect and language. they
were very ignorant over the mandarin dialect, or 北方官语 Bei-Fang-Guan-Yu
(Mandarin) (common acknowledged as a "language" in modern days). They do
not even think that there was a need to learn mandarin. Most of their
cultural practices and behavours were defined by their dialects, such as
the Hokkiens and Teow Chiews' "Pai Ti Gong" ceremony on the 9th day of
Lunar New Year or the Hakka's food like "Son Pan Zi", "Hakka teoh Fu"
etc.

They came in with the simple thoughts of gathering Money,
and bring it back to China so that it would benefit their relatives and
family up in China. If you still have relatives above the age of 85, do
ask them if they have siblings in China, and why didn't they go back to
reconcile and reunite with them. we shall explore "why" they didn't go
back in the next discussion.

Not really. It was the huge influx (in numbers) of the Han-Chinese that
allows the Han-Chinese immigrants to divide themselves from the foreign
cultures (Native Nusantarian/Malay/Asli). (Blythe, History Sketch of
Chinese Labour in Malay). The Chinese migrants prefers to “live”
among themselves, and with their huge numbers they can afford to build
their own silos (later on, developed into “towns”). (Professor Khoo Kay
Kim, “Racial Harmony and Conflict in Southeast Asia : The Example of
Malaysia” – 1973, page 11) Bear in mind, before independent our
country practices THREE different legal system : Malay Rulers adviced by
residents (head by Resident General in Singapore) in Federated Malay
State / Negeri Melayu Bersekutu – as a result of the Pangkor Treaty,
Malay Rulers adviced by advisors in Non-Federated Malay States / Negeri
Melayu Tidak Bersekutu, and Crown Colonies – Ruled by the British Queen
in Straits Settlement / Negeri Selat / Penang/Melacca/Singapore. These
three different political systems would later results in different
impact on the socio-ethnic relationship between Chinese and Malay. For
instance in Non-federated/Federated Malay states, the Ruler, namely
their royal Highness the Sultan were the head of state, and British
roles remained as “advisers”, albeit influential one (Dasar Campur
Tangan). In Strait Settlements, the head of states was the King/Queen of
England, represented by the Governor General based in Singapore. People
who’re borned in Penang/Melaka were conferred British Oversea
Citizenship. Don’t be surprise if you dig your great grandmother’s
drawer and found out that her passport (if she was born in the straits)
bears the British emblem – if she has a passport. Next you ask me,
what are the numbers of the “Huge Influx” of Chinese immigrants? (for
the purpose of convenience, I shall show you the Banci 1931 where I
merge Chinese and Indian immigrants together) LOOK HERE:- Federated Malay States Malays : 593,791 Chinese and Indians : 1,091,536

Non-Federated Malay States

Malays : 1,055,853 Chinese and Indians : 441,808

Technically if you excluse out the Crown Colonies of
Penang/Melacca/Singapore, which is run 100% by the British under their
monarchy, where majority of the citizens were Chinese (peranakans) and
Indian (Chitties) the ethnic composition of Tanah Melayu was :

Malay : 1,649,644 (51.8%) Chinese and Indians : 1,533,344 (48.2%)

If YOU include the populations of Strait Settlements (Singapore,
Penang, Melacca – mind you ,before 1962, Singapore was considered part
of the Tanah Melayu “coalition”) Malay : 1,962,021 (44.7%) Chinese : 1,709,392 (39.0%) Indian : 624,009 (14.2%)

Where if you add up the Chinese Population and Indian population, you get 53.2%! more than the Native Malays!

In fact, the British authority was so worried that the Chinese’s
“exclusiveness” and refusal to integrate/adapt into the local natives
would compromise the socio-ethnic landscape so much, that they publicly
endorses the “special position” of Malay rulers and the native
Malays/Nusantarians which would later develop into the “new Economic
Policy” that gives legitimacy to Bumiputra’s privileges. (Victor
Purcell, the Chinese in Malaya, 1973 – Second Edition, later adapted
into the publication Second Malaysian Plan, 1971-1975, Government
Press). So much so, that the Deputy parliamentary Secretary of
Colonial office, W.G.A Ormsby Gore, reiterated Sir Clifford (Governor
General of Straits Settlement) in 1928, that the British will respect
and follow the wordings of the treaty (pangkor, and other treaties with
Sultans) that the state must remained “Malay states” and the main focus
of the colonial office is to ensure that the Malay’s welfare must be
taken cared of so that they are “in par” with the Chinese. (Emerson, op
citation, page 174). The British made it a point to ONLY ensure free
education on Malay and National English Schools. (Victor Purcell, The
Chinese in Southeast Asia, 1965, second edition, page 278), where as ALL
Chinese school were funded and sustained by the Chinese community alone
without any help from the British Government. (Paul Chang, Planning
Education for a Plural Society, UNESCO, Paris, page 27). If the British
was to divide the Chinese and malay and rule them separately, why would
education made free ONLY to English or Malay schools? So did the
British actually divide and conquer the Chinese and Malay, or was it
that the Han-Chinese were “divided” by their own accord and freewill,
that the British was merely adapting to it for their own economic
interest with the Malay’s interest as native in mind?

___________________________________________________________ 4.) Our ancestors who wanted to go back to China, did not go back. Why?

As mentioned above, their main reason of coming down to Malaya/other
south east asian country, was not to settle down permanently, unlike the
northern Chinese who migrated to Europe or the US.

Our
Ancestors taught us a thousand year old virtue, of " Ru Xiang Sui Su
入乡随俗“ ( if you're in another foreign/alien land, you integrate into the
culture and practices of that society). "Ru Xiang Sui Su" was the
guiding principle and teachings by the Chinese’s ancestors, to those who
wanted to permanently migrate into a new society. You see the American
Chinese migrants adapting Christian name, going to US schools, reading
their news papers (of course you still have chinese circulations or
chinese foods in China town of these countries, which will be discussed
later - as in the comparison between the china town of Chinese who
wanted to settle down in new society permanently and the china town of
Malaysia – almost every town in Malaysia has a “china town”!). The
Chinese in European countries too, were incorporated into the european
culture fairly quickly, especially in the UK (Ie, HongKong citizens
prior to 1997, where “ability to speak in the Queen’s English is a
matter of pride”. They have not forget their root of being ethnic
chinese/han, but in terms of lifestyle and cultural adaptation, they
were quite integrated into the society they've migrated to. You see that
in places like Japan, Korea, or Thailand too for that matter.

However, this virtue of "Ru Xiang Sui Su" did not apply to southern
Chinese who've migrated to Tanah Melayu. This is simply because they
never wanted to stay permanently. (refer to point 3) – Average length of
stay for Chinese Migrants in Tanah Melayu between 1896 and 1930s
(before the close door policy and world war 2), is only 7 SEVEN years!

Furthermore, the fact that our ancestors started Chinese school in
early 1900, (first being Foon Yew High School in Johor) , the launch of
the first Chinese Press (Kwong Wah Jit Poh, which is much earlier than
Utusan) proved the irrebutable fact that our Ancestors WANTED to ensure
that their next generation to be "well equipped" with the Chinese
language and culture/customs, so that when they are back in China they
would be able to adapt into the norms/culture in China easily. If you
look at Kwong Wah Jit Poh’s History, the word “Kwong Wah光华” means
“Glorify the Hua Xia 华夏 race – general terms to refer to the Chinese
Race in total, not just Han-Chinese” pretty much suggest the kind of
sentiment of Han-Chinese in Malaysia – Nationalistic/Patriotic, to
mainland China! the role of KUO MIN TANG – 国民党 lead by Dr Sun Yat-Sen 孙中山, the “Father of China”, who founded the Kwong Wah Jit Poh in Penang.
The 1928 laws on citizenships in China, recognizes Malayan Chinese as
“citizens of the Republic of China”. Bear in mind that for that period
of time, Mainland China was ruled by the Kua Min Tang party (later
defeated by the Communist Party of China and retreated to Taiwan
Province). The then Governor General Sir Clementi quickly banned Kuo Min
Tang party movements in Malaya, fearing that it would allow the Chinese
to use Malay as a base for their revolutions and later-on, claiming of
land ownership. There were few branches of Kuo Min Tang in Malaya (I Kid
you NOT!!!) during the 1920s. The Chinese Malaysians loyalty back in
the 1920s, as harsh as it sounds, was to China. Never Malaya. (R.s.
Milne and Diane K. Mauzy, Politics and Government IN Malaysia, Page
24,25)

Chinese who migrated with the intention to permanently
settled down in a foreign country, never really started Chinese school
or Chinese press in the scale that our ancestors did in Tanah Melayu.
Back then, Chinese school was not unified. You have Penang's "Fu Jian
High School", which conducts it's lesson in Hokkien (currently, renamed
"Penang Chinese Girl School/ Bin Hwa High School"). The name of the
Chinese schools also pretty much reflect on our ancestor's "reminder" of
the fact that their presence in Malaya was temporary. you have "中华CHONG
HWA". Chong Hua is the abbreviation of the "Chong hua/ tiong hua" race
(not ethnic), which then is an abbreviation for the phrase 中土大园的华夏民族
(the Hua Xia (deepest root of the chinese) race from the main land
ground). Contrary to popular believe, Chong Hua is not derived from
China's Full Name "中华人民共和国“'s "Zhong hwa". in fact, both China's name,
and CHinese School's name in Malaya derived from the first root of
Chinese race (again, not ethnic Han), which is the "Main colossal Land's
Hua Xia race 华夏 race).

Not long after the immigration influx from China to Tanah Melayu
between 1900s to 1930s, a series of conflict happened : the world war 2
started. Japanese invaded China, and there were civil war in China
between the Communist fraction and the Nationalist (Kuo Min Tang)
fraction, before recapturing China from the last manchurian emperor
shows how deep an affinity between the Chinese in Malaya and China (of
course he got his later funding from many oversea Chinese in Europe and
USA as well, but he started in Penang, Malaysia).

Our Ancestors
had NO CHOICE to go back to china and reunite with their siblings,
family and loved one because of these conflicts and war. As soon as the
war ends, Communist party defeated Nationalist party lead by Chiang Kai
Sek, and practiced "Close Door Policy". the whole of China, like North
Korea, was sealed. No one was to enter and no one was to leave
(technically) without being subjected to tight restriction and scrutiny.

Malaysian ethnic Han/Chinese will have no choice, but to negotiate for a
settlement plan. They GRIEVE and MOURNE over the fact that they could
no longer go back and reunite with their family in mainland China. But
settlement in Malaya, was never meant to be perpetually initially.
That's why they actually agreed to alot of terms that were seemingly
compromising meritocracy on their part, but INSIST on venacular
education. (read my previous blog above for an understanding about
citizenship en mass). Venacular education, is the ONLY way they can
ensure that their descendant like you and me, would be able to converse
in our native mother tongue used in China, so that we could adapt the
China's society when we're back. This was our ancestors grieve and
despairs, which created the LEGACY of “Chinessness”. The legacy was
passed down from one generation to another, so that the “Chinessness”
can be maintained and persevered. Younger generation has never
understood the reasons for such legacies to prevail, but on the other
hand, they never doubt these legacies. Perhaps, they should start by
looking at how SINGAPORE ends the legacy of such grievance and mourning
by creating a single integrated Singapore identity, something that
Malaysia hasn’t achieve yet. (For a Start, SINGAPORE closed down ALL
venarcular school. I ask Chinese-Malaysians who always compared KL with
Singapore, ada berani tak?)

The LEGACY of such grievance and
despair were then, as I mentioned above, passed down from generation to
generation in structural form of Chinese Press, Chinese Education,
Chinese Assocation, Chinese Guild, all to “PRESERVE” the “Chinessness”.
As a matter of fact, Vernacular education, nation wide press
circulation, Race based Guilds, Associations, Clans Associations, were
things guaranteed by the Native Nusantarians community in light of the
"great trade off" of being treated differently in light of the “special
position clause” in article 153 of the Federal Constitution . Back then
in the 30s and 40s, native Nusantarians had no problem giving
citizenship to integrated Chinese/Indian/Europeans as long as they do
not withhold their loyalty to their country of origin. Much to the
Malay's dismay, the chinese back then had almost all loyalty, in my
humble opinion to China (refer to the point where I quoted R.s. Milne
and Diane K. Mauzy above). Those who choose to integrate would then be
known as "Peranakans", who speaks and behave like native Nusantarian.
the Nusantarian would treat Peranakans as part of them. But because of
the technical definition of them being "Chinese", they were bound by
similar fate of the 1900s Chinese Migrants’ fate unfortunately. The
Seranis (eurasians) were not included in the "CHinese/Indian" package
deal in the constitution. they assimiliated into the Nusantarian culture
and was accepted as part of the “native”. Again if you want to attack
on this point, do read my previous blog first (Bumiputra, for
non-bumiputra ---> https://www.facebook.com/taizeekin/posts/10151559295110306 )

Therefore It's suffice to say that our ancestors, who wanted to prepare
their next generation to go back in their stead (they couldn't because
of the close door policy and world war two), instilled their "Legacy" of
mandarin, the very gateway language to go back to China in future
(their hope to reconcile with their family and homeland!)

_____________________________________________________________

5.) Chinese School : To protect the 5000 years old culture and
knowledge, or its just about the language being the consequence our
Ancestor's LEGACY to become a gateway to go back to China, without us
(Chinese Malaysian) knowing the reasons and stories behind the
conception of such Legacies?

I used to ask my friends from
Chinese school, independent, or took UEC exam without SPM, on why would
they go to Chinese School Instead of an ordinary National School.

i got 3 kinds of answers.

a.) The Chauvinistic answers
- Chauvinist (沙文主义） would tell me that it's our duty to protect the
5000 years old wisdom and culture. thats why we have to send our
children to Chinese school.

what these chauvinists failed to
convince me, is how going to chinese school would ensure that they would
protect the 5000 years old history, culture and knowledge?

- I
asked them, do you know the "Si Shu Wu Jing (四书五经）, the four main
literature and 5 great mantras of the chinese. They couldn't even quote
me the title of the 9 most important literature work of the chinese
literature.

- I asked them, do you know the different school of
thoughts between the confusionism 儒家思想, taoism 道家思想，or Mahayanian
Buddhism 大乘佛理. they couldn't even distuingshih religion rituals and
philosophical ideology behind the Chinese Culture-based religion

- I asked them, of the 4 great dishes in Chinese Culture,
四大名菜，京菜，粤菜，闽菜，and 川菜 (Beijing culinery culture, Cantonese culinery
culture, Fu Jian culniery culture, and sichuan culinery culture) , how
many dishes can they name? they couldn't even name ONE.

- I
asked them, do you know the different between our Ethnic Han's
tranditional costume, the HAN FU (汉服） and the Manchurian Bannerman's
CHEONG SAM/ KEI PO （长衫， 旗袍，旗服) ? they thought that our traditional
costume was Cheong Sam/ Kei fuk / Kei pou ), which was a disgrace to our
ancestors. we were ethnic HAN with HAN surname like Tan, Lim, Chong,
Teoh, but we called the Manchurian's costumes as our traditional
costumes. Manchurians have surname like Yehonala, Nurhachi, Aisinjeoro.
Not LIm, Tan, Chong. They didn't even know that.

Having said that, I , who camed from a Malay school, knew more about Chinese Culture, History, Wisdom and knowledge than them.

Their defence hence became obsolete, as you DON'T NEED Chinese school
to defend the culture/knowledge of the 5000 years old wisdom.

b.) For the language, Economical reason since China is big.

That reason is even worse. Singapore has ZERO Chinese School, but
mandated everyone to brush up their mother tongue. Singaporean ethnic
Chinese ended up speaking good English, and good Mandarin, as well as
preserving their Dialect/Mother Tongue better than many Malaysian
students who went to Independent Chinese School. They didn't even need
Chinese school to achieve that kind of outcome. If Mandarin is
there for economical and practical reason, they SHOULD acknowledge that
and promote mandarin's learning through the right way. Not the
chauvinistic way that has the consequence of creating barriers among
people of different ethnicity. I went to Malay school, but took up
mandarin all the way to SPM, ended up knowing more about mandarin, the
language, and Chinese culture than many of the Chinese School graduates.
On the way, I was also exposed to the native Nusantarians/Malays’
culture, thoughts, behaviour, routine, religion, and other
vital/important socio-ethnicity factors that were important knowledge
for every Malaysian to know in order to stay united.

c.) Don't Know, just follow my parent's wish

That is the most dangerous part. This is exactly the very reason many
chinese are living in our ANCESTORS' LEGACY derived from grievance and
despairs of not being able to go back to their motherland, and to make
sure that their descendants are at least well equipped with the language
so that if they have an opportunity in the future (their future) to go
back to their motherland they would be able to adopt at least in terms
of language.

Chinese Education, is different from Chinese
Education system. I think it is important for people of every ethnic
origin to keep trace of their cultural route including language.

But we MUST not create an Education system purely to accommodate that
aspect alone. Our Ancestors had valid reason to create a separate
education system for Chines,. but now that their legacy is done and
over, and that we are permanently settled down in Malaysia, we should
defend our mother tongue as a "language to trace our root", but not a
SEPARATE SYSTEM altogether that would alienate a racial group from
another throughout their growing time.

in 31st May 1974 Malaysia and China formally recognizing each other as
sovereign state, and started the diplomatic ties, of which a 6 point
treaty was signed. Point 5) of the treaty mentioned that Chinese
that has acquired Malaysian Citizenship will ceased to able to resume
their Chinese citizenships. I shall quote you the passage

In the same bilateral meeting, Chinese Deputy Premier, Li Xian-Nian,
mentioned that “Chinese Malaysian should swear their loyalty to the
Malaysian Government” which was then quoted in a Joint statement

That should be the END to the LEGACY of the grievances and despairs of our ancestors. No more going back to China.

Instead of moving on and , like every other chinese around the world,
to integrate, our second, third, fourth, and now, fifth generation
ancestors were very confused. Their affinity to Chinese education
“System” is now changed, from initially inhering (mainly ONLY second
generation, does not apply to third or fourth generation) their
ancestors’ legacy of embarcing the affinity to mainland China, to now,
purely defending the Chinese Education system. It's like , I am an
Alumni from Chong Hwa school, and i would NOT let it be replaced/closed.
There are 1297 Chinese school in Malaysia, and every each of these
schools have alumnis who would, for the sake of their affinity to the
school per se, defend and justify their existence.

It soon became and issue of "Quality of Education".

Chinese School was preferred, in the modern context, mostly because of
their quality. I have people telling me, Chinese School has better
teacher and better quality, that’s why we send our kids there.

Therefore it's imperative that we do not hide under the facade and
hypocrisy of "Defending 5000 years old culture", and admit that the
reason they go to Chinese school is because of practical/economical/and
quality consideration.

_________________________________________________________

7.) Chinese's ability and willingness to adapt.

The Chinese, in fact, are among those who are most willing to adapt and
modify our culture to intergrate with another culture that we look
"highly" too. (of course, keeping a trace of our ethnic han route)

Why many Chinese would adopt "Christian" name (NOT western, i am
talking about name like Michael, Kelvin, Joseph, which are CHRISTIAN
name) despite not being christians, and fact that it's very foreign to
Chinese culture? of course they keep their enthic HAN route by keeping
the surname/given name.

Why so many Chinese are willing to
modify our offerings to the Deities? instead of candle light, many are
now replaced with, hmn... red bulbs?

Talk about food, do you
know that many of the SO CALLED Chinese food like Hokkien Mee, Bak Kut
Teh, Hainam Chicken rice, can NEVER be found in Hokkien, or Hainan
China? it's a modification and adaptation to the South East Asian
Chinese’s taste and preference. If you can modify most of the important
cultures, it means that you are flexible!

Chinese has a fairly flexible mode to adapt.

fact that the reason Chinese refuse to adapt to the Native nusantarian
culture and behaviour, is very worrying. That's the root of
subtle-racism, sparked by misunderstood and subtle chauvinist behaviour.

Why did we fail to adapt
to the native customs and culture is something that we have to ponder
upon. i WOULD NOT spell the words out here and risk being labelled a
"traitor to the race" like what Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim
has been treated rudely by the ignorant chauvinists.

For my Chinese Friends who speaks hokkien.

How do you call a Malay person in Hokkien? HUANNA 蕃仔 ? please use
baidu.com to find out what that really means. it's a disgraceful and i
felt ashamed.

______________________________________________________________

8.) China Town

Have you been to the China Town in US big sities, and also London's
China Town? the China town in Western Countries are very China-chinese
orientated. It serves as a “memory" and "traces" of the Chinese-ethnic
origin for the migrants, as well as , for economical purposes sell off
the unique “Chinese culture” to the foreigners. Most Chinese migrants in
these country, who're well integrated in their respective native
culture, would from time to time, visit China Town to remind themselves
of their root, in the form of remembrances more than "embracing" them.
This is acceptable in a multi-cultural society.

When was your
last visit to the China Town in Kuala Lumpur, and did you feel sorry for
it to be called "China town"? There is NO NEED for a China Town in
Malaysia. Most towns, big or small, in Malaysia has China Town. Chinese
bill boards, Chinese advertorials, Chinese signboards etc. Why is there a
need for a stand alone China Town anymore? any Street in Penang or
Certain street in KL/ Serdang/Puchong could well beat London's China
town as a more "china" china town.

_____________________________________________________________

9.) Malaysian First, or Chinese First?

Funny enough, If you ask that question, many ethnic Han Chinese
Malaysians would answer you that they are Malaysian first, and Chinese
second, without knowing what it takes to be Malaysian first.

(Caution, if you are a URBAN BANANA, this does not applies to you.
according to cense report, there are only 9% of you existing. rest 91%
are Chinese educated ) You wake up every morning and watch TVBS Asia,
pheonix channel, CCTV4, or hua hee tai. Shows that 80% of other
Malaysians who are not chinese will never watch. Tune in to 988, myFM,
aiFM, OneFM, channels that 80% of Malaysians don't understand and will
never listen to. You reach your office, open up Sin Chew Jit Poh, Nan
Yang Siang Pau, Guongming, Kwong Wah Jit Poh, China Press, Oriental
daily, something that only 80% of Malaysians cannot understand. you
MIGHT have lunch with your malay/indian colleagues, and chat about life
and work. once you go home from work, you talk to your family, children
in Mandarin, a language that 80% of Malaysians CANNOT speak or
understand. before you sleep, you go to facebook and scroll through. You
post among your friends, whom 80% came from your ethnic.

in
your daily routine, you are only a MALAYSIAN for 20%, but Chinese 80%.
and you call yourself a MALAYSIAN FIRST? hmn... then perhaps, you could
tell me how would Chinese first or Malaysian first make a different to
you? Lets not quote me example of "WHEN YOU ARE OVERSEA" because you
know what, how long are you over sea? so you're only Malaysian first
when you are oversea? hmnnn.

The goal of me posting this long
post, is to ASK for the ethnic HAN chinese Malaysian, to really
reconsider our stand on issues pertaining race. Stop being
overly/over-zealously “conscious” about “chinessness” and learn how to
integrate into the Native society, WITHOUT compromising your ethnic
identity. Chinese in UK/ US/ Thailand all did that willingly. why can't
we? it's our ancestors' teaching that we SHOULD do that.

WAKE
UP from the LEGACY (of course, I hope after you read the first few part
you would know what these LEGACIES are) of our ancestors’ grievance and
despair of not being able to go back to China (remember, it’s our
ANCESTORs’ grievence, not ours). We are done with that. Let the
grievance and despair follow our ancestors to their grave. Start
rethinking about your stand as Malaysian.

Please LEARN how to
integrate into the native culture, and OF COURSE , keep mandarin as a
language that would help you to trace your ethnic origin. NOT THE OTHER
WAY round or you are still TRAPPED in our ancestor's grievance.

___________________________________________________________

P/s I will write another post on HOW Mandarin, a dialect of the
northerner, KILLS OFF our mother tongue (which is our dialect). Mother
tongue for Chinese is different, it's not the language, but the dialect
that our ancestors used. Do you know that great poet LI BAI 李白 wrote his
poem in HE BEI dialect, which is the current "Hokkien Language", and
the HE BEI dialect was the OFFICIAL language used in TANG dynasty royal
palace and court? and there you think everyone in the movie speaks
mandarin it must be the spoken language back then. MANDARIN is killing
off your mother tonger. THe language is called HAN language 汉语。mandarin,
(formerly 官语，（language of the aristocrats), now 普通话 putong hua, 华语
huayu) is MERELY a dialect of the northener. Chinese language is HANYU +
your DIALECT. NOT Hanyu + MANDARIN.

that i will discuss in another post. _____________________________________________________________ Note
1.) Please read this with an open mind, and do not narrowly construe
any of my opinions to justify a standalone point. Please take the
context in it’s entirety

2.) UTUSAN Malaysia quoted the
unedited version of my article, and I am prone to believe that some of
the parts were taken out of context. I was assessing the “Chinese
Education SYSTEM” as a whole, not vernacular school, by referencing to
Singapore where ALL vernacular schools were closed down.

3.)
You are not encouraged to do personal attack on me just because you do
not agree with my opinion on in this post. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION comes
with some basic qualifications, of respects, agree to disagree, in a
civilized manner. By blurting derogatory and substanceless remarks
against another fellow citizens for voicing his opinion in a civilized
manner is most unbecoming, and is an abuse of the freedom of expression.

4.) I would like to apologize for the delayed postings. To put in
academic reference I had to search for a lot of reading
materials/journals online, or in the public library/UM
library/bookstores. I am sorry that I might not be able to lend you
these books/journals because I don’t have it. If you want to look for
the books/journals, I suggest that you visit the national library/UM
library or visit any big book stores.

Regards

TAI ZEE KIN

- I dedicate this to all Chinese-Malaysians, who are truly Malaysian First.